What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

1. Task 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?

2. Camera
This is a picture of the camera we used to film our final
piece. It is a Canon handheld camcorder, and was the main
piece of technology we used during production to obtain
the visuals for our opening. It was an excellent piece of
technology as its light weight and portability made it very
easy to carry around between the different rooms of the
house we used to film. It was also very easy to use - one
button controlled recording and stopping. Using this
camera, we were able to easily play back the shots we had
just taken, allowing us to judge if we needed to re-film or
change any shots without having to wait to get back to the
Mac. Once we had finished filming, we easily removed the
SD card from the camera and inserted it into the Mac, to
import all the footage. Luckily we brought a spare battery
with us during the day, or else we would have ran out of
battery mid-production. I had not used a camcorder of this
type before, only DSLR cameras, so it was a new piece of
technology for me.

3. Apple Mac
Apple Macs were a vital piece of technology used in
pre-production planning and research as well as
post-production. With these Macs, we were able to
access our Mahara journals, complete planning tasks
such as the risk assessments, props lists and shot
lists. We also could research films and opening
sequences to use as references or inspiration. These
Macs have applications such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe
Premiere Pro and GarageBand, meaning we had easy
access to these for our production. It allowed us to
store all our footage and sounds in one area, so we
could easily manage the files during editing. We
were able to use them to upload our final piece to
YouTube when they were finished. Although I don’t
own a Mac, I am well acquainted with them and how
they work as I used them throughout my GCSE
Media Studies, therefore using them for this project
was very easy.

4. Mobile Phone
This mobile phone (Apple 5s) was used to record
some diegetic sounds, such as the traffic
ambience. It is a very familiar piece of technology
for all of us, as we all use our phones daily,
therefore we had no problem at all with using it
to record sound. When it came to transferring
the sound files from the phone to the Mac, we
had to email the files across which took a lot of
time due to the wifi in the media classroom being
quite slow and the files being of decent size.
However once the emails had gone through, it
was easy to download and import the files from
Outlook to Final Cut Pro. The phone was not the
best quality, however it was very portable and
easy to use and gave us what we wanted in terms
of a simple ambient sound.

5. Tripod
This tripod was used during the majority of our shots on filming
day. This makes filming a lot easier, and makes our shots much
more stable and steady. Not only did it make it easier to pan and
tilt, but also made the entire process and shot of panning appear
smoother and less jagged than would’ve been achieved by hand. In
order to use it, you must extend the legs to the height desired,
ensuring the legs are equal length (to keep it untilted) and locked
(to make sure it doesn’t fall). The camera screws onto the ‘foot’ at
the top of the tripod, which keeps it secure, and the ability to tilt or
pan is controlled by screws at the side. Turning the handle allows
this tilt or pan. The tripod was an excellent piece of equipment and
helped us to make our film more realistic and professional as the
shots were steady and not shaky. However, as we moved around
quite a lot during filming, it could become annoying to carry
around, as we would have to close the legs again each time to
prevent it from knocking into things. We also got our fingers
trapped a few times whilst clipping or closing the tripod, which was
painful.

6. Timeline - this is where the clips go in
order, along with any sounds and
effects. This keeps track of what you
have, the durations of it and any other
elements such as fades and text boxes.
Effects Tab - this is where we can
control effects such as text, as well
as visual or audio effects.
Import Tab - this is where all the video
and audio imports are kept. You can
click and drag clips into the timeline to
be used in production.
Tools tab - these buttons allow us
to add text, visual/audio effects,
pictures, music, transitions and
overlays.
Main screen - here you can see your project in real-
time, with all the effects you have added. You can
easily scrub along the video to find certain parts to
view or edit.
Final Cut Pro

7. Project panel & media browser - switch
between projects and view all imported
media; media can be dragged onto the
timeline to be used.
Program Monitor - view changes
made to your clips here; the main
screen, like on Final Cut Pro.
Effect controls - change position, scale, rotation, as well as
other audio and visual effects here.
Timeline - like Final Cut Pro, this is
where the clips go in order, along
with any sounds and effects.
Premiere Pro works in sequences
which allows you to break work
into manageable chunks.
Tools panel - each icon in this panel represents a
tool that performs a specific function, typically a
type of edit in a sequence.
Adobe Premiere Pro CC

8. Here you can view certain aspects of
your survey and change elements. You
can also filter your results and compare
them to other data, as well as export
your data.
Here you can create a survey.SurveyMonkey is a free online
questionnaire and survey presenting
website. We used it during our target
audience research.
Here you can view the results of each question in
different charts and graphs as well as statistical
figures.
SurveyMonkey

9. You can create your portfolios here.
This is your profile.
Mahara was where we
posted our production
journals and now our
evaluation journals.
We are able to present
all our work on a
portfolio.
I had never used Mahara before, although it was
very easy to learn how to navigate. I had a large
technical issue with my journal in that it was
deleted, so I lost all my work, but luckily it was able
to be recovered.
Mahara

10. Annotations timeline - view, edit and
organise all the annotations on your
video easily.
Here you can add new annotations.
Whilst I use YouTube incredibly
frequently, I have never used the
annotations page to add little
comments and annotations to my
videos. It was very easy to do so.
This is how the
annotations appear on
your video.
YouTube Annotations

11. Tracks organiser - allows us to have
multiple loops playing at the same time,
and makes it easier to edit the timing
and make any adjustments to each clip.
Timing panel - keeps loops playing
in time with each other. Allows us
to synchronise the music with the
action in the scene.
Apple loops panel - we used it to
find clips in the correct key that
would fit together and work with
the diegetic sounds in our opening.Timeline - shows the sequence of sound effects
and music tracks.
GarageBandI had never used GarageBand
before but it gave a very
professional sound and feel
to our piece, and seems easy
to use, therefore I would
definitely use it again.

12. Other Websites
Sourcing some foley diegetic sounds.
Research into target audience.
Finding fonts for our titles.
Different methods of presenting
our ideas and research.
Turning video clips into GIFs.